Listening too loud: Ami Suzuki DOLCE

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DOLCE means sweetly in Italian, and it's a fitting title for this very pink album from Suzuki Ami, as well as her second collobration album. Released on 2008.02.06 it is Ami's 6th Studio album and 3rd collobration album. The album was released in three versions: a first press CD+Photobook, a CD+DVD, and a CD. The CD+Photobook first press edition comes with an extra track soley performed by Ami.

I currently own the CD+DVD version, though I prefer the cover to the CD-only :D

The album opens with the addictive FREE FREE as collobrated with the talented guy from Capsule, Nakata Yasutaka. There are no words to describe how much I love this song. It features a strong, catchy dance beat and heavy voice distortion. However, after looking at the lyrics, I can see it's about breaking free from a guy you are unhappy with and dancing to "your own tune" (even if alot of the lyrics are unrecognizable).  This song is very sexy though, with breathy backing vocals; and just look at the PV. What makes the song if the fact that it never  gets boring, it constantly changes and introduces new elements which make it utter awesomeness.  Warning: one listen and you'll have it on repeat both on your player and in your head.

After FREE FREE you have to wonder if Suzuki will keep up the good standard presented. FEEL THE BEAT does not dissapoint, much. Once again the heavy synth is kept up: and slightly stronger in ways here. The song opens with synch, soon introducing backings vocals whispering "feel the beat" and then singing them.  The intro gets a little boring though, but thankfully Suzuki eventually enters the song. Except, she too is speaking softly, merging into the backing vocals.  FEEL THE BEAT is a tad annoying in the respect that unlike FREE FREE it doesn't change much, just introduces louder "feel the beats" or nothing at all. The background "ticking" doesn't help much.  Though relying on synth, it doesn't really have a beat that would make you want to dance. There is something about this song though that makes you not hate it, which is quite unusual.

Track 3 is Potential Breakup Song- Suzuki Ami's infamous collabration with Disney group Aly and AJ, infamous for being strange but addictive. I LOVE it. Once again, this song is filled with synth and voice effects: but it's pretty awesome. Though I've never heard the original, I feel no need after listening to this.  I think the rythmn fitting with the lyrics is extremly clever, and there's a edge in this song. There has to be, as the song is about a guy who cheats: and the girl is asking him just to admit he's wrong. the whole potential breakup relies on him saying sorry.  Anyway, the song has a cool little guitar solo, and though I don't like te bird noises in the beginning throughout the song they add cool effect.  As with FREE FREE this song is interesting as it changes constantly, and the more you listen the more you discover new and funky little elements. Also, it's equally catchy: you'll be singing "this is the potentail breakup song" bridge alot. :)

Bitter... is a collobration with studio apartment. It is a ballad, but still keeps the synth element to it. The song starts with Piano and violin, before introcuding the synth and dance beat. Ami soons comes in with low,  but  controlled vocals.  I love her singing in this, especially how she steadily raises the pitch in her voice for the chorus. However, she doesn't raise her voice her voice so low or high it sounds strained: a good choice as she obviously doesn't have the strongest of voices. Once again, the rythmn is infectious: and this is apparent in the chorus. The instrumentals and Ami's voice give this song a very relaxed and laid back feel.  The strings appear alot in this song, but don't overpower the song in a "woe is me" way. Though Ami doesn't have much emotion in her voice, I feel that she doesn't need it because of the synth and the fact that her voice sounds good anyhow. Overall, a excellent listen and Ami has managed to keep the quality of this album pretty high so far: though FEEL THE BEAT wasn't the strongest.

Next up is a collobration with RAM RIDER, Sweet dance.  This song starts very quietly, band has a bit of a cute feel. The chorus is insanely "dolce":  but at the same time sexy and  also catchy. There isn't much voice distortion, but there is still the synth and dance beat. There is also a strange string-ish little riff going on in the background, which add to the cute atmosphere.  I find that Suzuki Ami voice is much lower than the norm, and it has a nice tone to it.

CAPTAIN FUNK introduces himself in the next song, The WeekeND which has a very annoying instumentals a bit of a out-dated feel to it. Ami's voice sounds a little strange too. The repetition of "the weekend" also gets on ones nerves after a little while as does the strange ending. A  very dissapointing song on what was a excellent album so far.

SUPER MUSIC MAKER, track 7,  brings back the high quality to the album. It is another collobration with the guy from Capsule, and has a cuter feel but still relies on voice distortion and heavy dance beats. I'm glad that this one is shorter than the single version, which dragged on for a insane amount of time. Though even this version is not as strong as FREE FREE it still is very catchy and has it's own appeal in the more cuter feel over sezy. Once again, excellent variation throughout the song and clever use of background vocals and voice effects.  SUPER MUSIC MAKER is the opposite of FREE FREE, as it is a hopeful song about falling in love - "I want us to dance together, and maybe fall in love"

After the redeeming SUPER MUSIC MAKER comes another collabration with RAM RIDER. MUSIC has a very heavy  and traditional dance beat. This track doesn't really stand out, though it is not attrocious. I find it strikingly simliar to SWEET DANCE in instrumentals though.

Track 9 Stereo Love is a collobration with somebody called Tomoe Shinohara. Suzuki Ami is really pilling on the cute in this one, and it sounds a little odd. The song focuses more on Suzuki Ami's voice, with minimal backing instrumentals. Suszuki ami definitly stretches her voice too high in the chorus. Overall, this track is a tad boring and sounds try-hard in it's over cuteness.Ahh..and she laughs at the end which is strange but actually really cute. Perhaps this song was just for the sake of it, and not meant to be taken seriously: in that case, she is forgiven : ) (or maybe that was her intention with adding the laugh...)

Next is a collobration with ROCKET MAN, Ai no Uta (a popular song title, after forever love of course) which I just put on and it features loud and brazen rap or something: so I'm not listening any further. Nothing worse than loud and brazen rap right at the begining of song with no backing.

Futarihi pop is another crap song which I put on to be met with some guy...perhaps imitating Ami's voice in Stereo Love. Either way, its fucking annoying and a real turn off.

Atarashi Hibi  is a collob with YO-KING immeidatly redeems the album again, thankfully letting DOLCE end on a good note.  The song is awesome. The way Ami is singing in the beginning is stunning and also catchy.This song feels hopeful, and again has the laid back feel of Bitter... Ah, and the guitar too. The guitar really shines here, even though this song never feels like it has a rock element to it.  The backing vocals going "oo" or whatever would usually be annoying, but it really works in this song. A  brilliant end that leaves the listener feeling very relaxed and pleased with the album. 

Overall Ami Suzuki has really outdone herself with this album. Though I'd only heard of her before, I'm definitly looking out for whatever she releases next now.  Though there are sometruly terrible songs on the album, there are also some truly amazing songs. Furthermore, I love how the synth was used throughout the album: and the flow of the album wans't bad either.

I was dissapointed in the crappy cover, where Suzuki Ami looks a bit tarty: but the rest of the booklet is good. I don't like the pink though :P  Also, the DVD needed the PV for FREE FREE.

AS for Bonus track If, don't bother: it's not so good.

This is a excellent comeback from Suzuki Ami, no matter how much she's selling herself as well as her music now:(9/10)

lyrics source: click